The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 157

The Meiress to brderestimated

Chapter 157 Above The System

LAG

Finished

They spread out on the large library table. The pizza boxes were opened (extra cheese and pepperoni, the official brain food of planned operations). Frost joined them, looking at the detective’s notebook with the focus of a bomb disposal expert.

For the next two hours, they talked and ate and plotted. It was, Elera thought later, one of the strangest war councils in history. A billionaire, a secret surgeon–CEO–author, a literary editor, and a former special forces soldier, sitting around eating pizza and trying to figure out how to take down a corrupt empire.

Clara, with her journalist’s mind, saw the story. “We should leak it. But not all at once so we drip feed it. First, an anonymous tip to a reporter at the Times about police corruption, with just enough detail to be credible but not enough to reveal our hand. Let them start digging. Then, a week later, another leak about judicial impropriety. Then the financial stuff. We create a snowball so that by the time your father figures out where it’s coming from, it’ll be too big to stop.”

Frost saw the security angle. “We need to protect our sources. Angela Reeves and Jennifer Martinez. We need to get them somewhere safe before the first story breaks. And we need to be ready for retaliation. He’ll come for you directly if he feels cornered.”

Drakonius saw the legal and financial end. “We use his own tactics. We hit him where it hurts- his money. We start with the Meridian Holdings shell companies. We file lawsuits, trigger audits, freeze assets. Make it pained and public. While he’s fighting financial fires, he’s less focused on the corruption story.”

Elera listened to all of it, adding her own thoughts. “And we need to be ready for the personal attack. He’ll try to discredit me. He’ll drag out every secret, every alias. He’ll say I’m unstable, a liar, a manipulator. We need to get ahead of that. We need to own the tale before he can spin it.”

“So a multi–front war,” Clara summarized, wiping pizza grease off her chin with a napkin. “Financial, legal, media, and personal. While also running a multi–billion dollar medical company, writing bestselling novels, designing fashion lines, and oh yeah, saving your husband’s life. Just a typical Tuesday.”

“We’ve handled worse,” Drakonius said dryly.

“Have we?” Clara asked. “Because this seems like a new level of worse. This is ‘call in the Avengers‘ worse.”

“The Avengers are fictional,” Frost pointed out.

“So is our life most days!” Clara threw her hands up. “We’re living in a thriller novel! At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a secret agent come through the window.”

1/2/

16:38 Fri, Apr 3

Chapter 152 Above The System

As if on cue, there was a sharp tap tap tap on the library window.

Everyone froze.

Finished

Frost was on his feet in an instant, hand going to his side. Drakonius pushed Elera behind him. Clara just stared, her mouth full of pizza.

The tap tap tap came again.

Cautiously, Frost moved to the window and pulled back the curtain.

Perched on the narrow ledge outside, looking wet, miserable, and entirely out of place, was a very large, very bedraggled crow. It pecked at the glass again with its beak.

Tap tap tap.

Clara let out a hysterical giggle. “It’s a spy drone! In a bird form! I knew it!”

Frost sighed, a long–suffering sound. “It’s a real bird. It’s probably attracted to the light.” He shooed it away. The crow gave him an indignant look and flew off into the sky.

The tension broke. They all started laughing, it was the type of slightly unhinged laughter that

mes from too much stress and not enough sleep.

98

1

2/2